Aircraft often provide entertainment systems to satisfy passenger demand for entertainment during travel. Conventional passenger entertainment systems include overhead cabin viewing systems and/or seatback viewing systems with individual controls for selecting the viewing content.
Coaxial cables are used in conventional passenger entertainment systems to distribute the viewing content to the overhead cabin viewing systems and the seatback viewing systems. In lieu of coaxial cables, the viewing content may be wirelessly provided from access points within the aircraft to seatback displays and to personal electronic devices (PEDs) carried by the passengers.
U.S. published patent application no. 2006/0107295 to Margis et al. discloses PEDs and seatback displays interfacing with access points within the aircraft, and wirelessly receiving entertainment related information from different media content sources. One of the media content sources is a satellite communications system that provides streaming video content in an MPEG-4 FGS (Fine Granularity Scalable) format. A transceiver system within the aircraft provides the streaming video to the PEDs or seatback displays via a content distribution system.
Another approach for wirelessly distributing entertainment related information within an aircraft is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,974,293 to Lee. In Lee, a server includes network interface cards that wirelessly communicate with various user terminals, which may be PEDs and seatback displays. Each server includes a transcoding module to change the format of the signals. The signals may be provided in real time, i.e., from live broadcasts, or they may be pre-recorded. Transcoding may be performed so that content may be distributed in the desired form. A request for a particular coding format or scheme may be requested at the user terminal. The transcoding may be performed for all of the signals received or may be performed on an individual basis when a particular piece of content is purchased.
The cabin area is a non-uniform environment for wireless transmissions. Seamless viewing of the entertainment related information may be disrupted by transmission errors. Transmission errors may occur due to RF reflections within the cabin. RF reflections may be attributed to the general layout of the cabin, people moving around in the cabin, and even the service cart being pushed up and down the aisle. There is a need to wirelessly provide entertainment related information while overcoming the non-uniform communication conditions within the aircraft.